Monday Morning Report
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Internal
The Executive Committee of the Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council will meet this Wednesday, 4/16, at 2:00 pm at the Corridor Council offices in San Marcos. Please RSVP to council@thecorridor.org or call 512-558-7360 for more information.
Welcome to our newest member, Jackson Walker, a law firm with a strong regional base of over 300 attorneys in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Angelo, and San Antonio. The firm's corporate clients include Fortune 500 companies, multi-national corporations, major financial institutions, and a wide range of publicly traded corporations and closely held businesses.
Infrastructure
The TxDOT-sponsored Texas Transportation Forum gets underway in Austin next week
(4/20-22), the Third Annual event that gathers transportation people and topics from all over the State under one roof (The Hilton Hotel). Details and registration here.
At least one new Federal study shows that US drivers, growing older as a group and pressured by rising gas prices, recorded the first drop last year in miles-traveled in nearly 30 years. Drivers traveled just over 3 trillion miles in 2007, down 12.2 billion or 0.4 percent, according to the Federal Highway Administration's monthly Traffic Volume Trends. Details from Pat Driscoll here.
The controversial $1.25 fee per tube rental on New Braunfels river patrons is faced with another court challenge next month. The city ordinance raises about $250,000 per year for garbage clean-up and enhanced law enforcement along local waterways but since you only pay it if you rent a tube as opposed to bringing your own, some folks say it is unfair. At least one court decision has already agreed. Story.
A big building boom is about to get underway in San Antonio as billions in new construction projects prepare Fort Sam Houston and Brooke Army Medical Center for an increase of military and civilian workers estimated at 10-12,500 over the next few years. The Express-News has the story here.
Yesterday's New York Times had a wrap-up story on privatizing or leasing existing tollways with special emphasis on Indiana's completed deals and New Jersey's contemplated ones. Texas is said to be one of the states - at least according to this story - examining its options. Full story here.
Economic Development
CPS Energy in San Antonio is the No.1 ranked supplier of wind-generated electricity among all municipally owned utilities, according to the American Wind Energy Association. CPS Energy has capacity of supplying 501 megawatts of wind power to its customers. Austin Energy earned the No. 2 spot nationally at 274 megawatts.
The Austin City Council approved the master development agreement for the $117.2 million Seaholm mixed-use redevelopment project last week. The development group, led by Southwest Strategies Inc., will pay $98.6 million or 84% of the cost of the project, while the city will pay $18.6 million. The redevelopment plan calls for a 22-story hotel, 60 condo units, 130,000 sq.ft. of office space and 50,000 sq. ft. of retail and commercial space.
A planned business park in Hutto has received an economic incentive package from the city’s Economic Development Corp. for up to $125,000. The proposed North Town Commons Business Park is a 28.6 acre development. Its first tenant is Texas Fixtures and Interiors, which has a 30,000 sq. ft. building under construction and plans to employ 60 people.
AT&T Inc. announced plans to spend almost $200 million expanding its wireless network in Texas this year. The plan includes 102 new cell sites and the expansion of the high-speed 3G network to more rural towns. Bastrop, Boerne and Marble Falls are a few of the Central Texas towns that will have faster data access.
Killeen is getting a new 80,000 sq. ft. police headquarters. The $22 million project will consolidate the city’s police operations from four buildings into one. The building is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2009.
Patagonia, the Ventura, Calif. active clothing and equipment retailer, plans to open its first Texas store in Austin at 316 Congress. The 7,000 sq. ft. store will be the company’s 25th location and will carry outdoor sports and lifestyle products. The store will open this fall in the historic W.B. Smith Building.
Seguin Economic Development Corp. has plans for Newstar Logistics to open operations and has awarded a $140,000 grant to help hire employees and to move into more than 100,000 square feet of warehouse space as part of the company’s planned expansion. Newstar Logistics provides packaging services for operations, such as Costco and Sam’s Club.
“The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax. “
- Albert Einstein